Wow, and who is the child here?

I bet the students just laughed and wrote some more smack about him. It's good to know some of those students are so supportive of gay rights and exercising their right to free speech. Brown forbid they do that!

I'm always amused at how these jackasses can institute hateful social policies, then act all astonished when the people whom they've screwed direct anger back at them presonally. The kind of conservative politics this guy stands for are inexcusable - the only reason them is to vilify people some of this constituents don't like in order to gain support.

Called them on it? They're teenagers with opinions that aren't homophobic. So you're calling them out? Brown also named the kids, even after "Some of the teachers tried to stop him, and said things like 'You shouldn't be naming students.'"

So how is that confronting the students? Yelling at them and not allowing them to talk back? To justify what they said? Because, heaven forbid, we have opinions that aren't what you think they should be. Because its so incrediably needed for our country's leaders to go ranting off to a High School because not everybody agrees with him. And then, saying their names and what they wrote word-for-word, curses included, in front of the entire student body in an attempt to humiliate them. Just because they don't like you.

I think Brown suffers from some insecurity issues.

I suppose the Facebook "hate speech" was somehow different than the hate speech he spouts about gays getting married.

Also, how removed from reality can someone be when they think that telling teenagers not to talk smack about them actually works? If anything, he just added more fuel to the fire. Anyone know where the facebook group is?

"Now there’s hate speech and then there’s respectful proper speech."

Referring to the semen of the Holy Spirit = hate speech.

Blithely calling for Mecca to be nuked, Iranian scientists to be assassinated, large groups of people to be indefinitely and unconstitutionally detained, and (as Mary points out) denial of civil rights to people based on sexual orientation... so long as it doesn't involve the 'f' word = respectful, proper speech.

I've been wasting my life working at the East Austin Shaved Ice Emporium, I'm going to apply for an entry-level position at the Ministry of Truth.

Pathetic. By the way, where does a senator find time to sit around reading Facebook?

Ah, Scott Brown. My delightfully open-minded and tolerant senator.

/sarcasm

The link is to a letter I wrote him after he voted in the MA Constitutional Convention to put already-legal same-sex marriage up to a general vote across the state.

He's a bully and I cannot WAIT to get active in the next election he's in to get someone to run against him (no luck this year... sigh.)

Um, is what he did even legal? Does he not understand that he's a PUBLIC OFFICIAL, and that by running for office and being in office, he's agreed to a lower level of privacy than a private citizen, which is what those kids he "called out" are? It sounds like he wants to enjoy all the privileges of elected office without having to deal with any of the drawbacks.

But anyhow, good for those kids. I hope they write more shit about him.

Folks, I just can't agree with some of the views expressed here. I don't think it's okay to insult someone's daughter, or for that matter to insult someone personally, full stop.

I don't care whether you're insulting them because they're gay or insulting them because they're a homophobe.

I do agree that political figures effectively consent to a certain amount of exposure. However, debate is best carried on in the mode of ideas, not identities.

That said, it sounds like the Senator handled it rather poorly.

Huh. Did he post a rant about this on his MySpace blog too?

Also, I think I remember his daughter on American Idol. (Don't judge, people. It's my crack). She got kicked off pretty early but still had a basketball scholarship, or something like that, waiting for her. Sucks to know that her dad is such a loser.

Wow.

I had an incident recently where a teacher blew up at my class for us criticizing a product he'd created. He was nowhere near this bad (we were at least allowed to reply to him) but I'm happy to know he apparently keeps good company in the over-thirty-temper-tantrum crowd.

I would say I hope people remember this poor conduct come election time, but that won't happen. Yeah, they shouldn't have attacked his daughter unless she's pulling a Cheney bullshit act and actually putting herself in the public forum. In this case, I just want to slap this guy. Not even high schoolers would have pulled such a poorly thought out move. The way to respond would have been through the mode of attack - on Facebook.

I don't think it's okay to insult someone's daughter, or for that matter to insult someone personally, full stop.

I agree that it isn't right to insult his daughter, who doesn't have anything to do with this. Him, however? Let the mudslinging begin.

Personally, I'm impressed that these kids are politically aware enough to know who this senator is, not to mention what he stands for. He should have congratulated them.